Rare Book Monthly

Book Catalogue Reviews - February - 2013 Issue

Travel Manuscripts and Photography from Voyager Press

Travel manuscripts from Voyager Press.

Travel manuscripts from Voyager Press.

Voyager Press Rare Books and Manuscripts has issued a catalogue of Travel Manuscripts with Travel Photography. This, quite naturally, is filled with one-of-a-kind material. These are personal collections, on paper and film, by travelers all around the world. Some went on business, others pleasure. Some were Americans, others Europeans. They traveled to the heat of equatorial regions, or to the cold of Antarctica. What they had in common was keeping a record of what they saw as they traveled. Their accounts were not published, effectively lost to history, until resurrected in this catalogue. Here is a chance to relive adventures of long ago, in the words and images of those who experienced them first hand.

We start with an archive from “Operation Highjump,” an American mission to the Antarctic undertaken just after the second world war. It was headed by noted polar aviator-explorer Admiral Richard Byrd. Byrd was the first to fly over the north and the south pole, though some doubt his claims at least to the former. The archive was compiled by James G. Snyder, a young (21) officer with the expedition. It was designed to test equipment under the harsh conditions of the environment and determine the feasibility of operating bases in the Antarctic. An unstated aim may have been to secure territorial claims for America. The mission ran from summer 1946 through early 1947. These were the early days of the developing Cold War, when the U.S. was seeking to gain advantages over their Soviet rivals. The collection includes a hand-drawn map and an unofficial naval certificate signed by Byrd. However, most of Snyder's account is focused on a particular incident. On December 30, 1946, the George One, an airship, went down. Three crewmen died in the crash, but six others survived. It took 13 days to complete a search and rescue of the surviving airmen. Snyder writes in detail about the rescue. Priced at $9,750.

Next we have documents from another recovery effort, though one that sadly was too late for saving lives. They pertain to the first U.S. submarine lost at sea, the USS F-4 (SS-23), which sank just a mile and a half off the coast of Hawaii in 300-foot deep water in 1915. It was one of four such submarines stationed in the Pacific. Submarines were fairly new at the time, dangerous ships that brought hazardous duty payments to their crew. On March 25, 1915, the F-4 went out to sea to test some diving maneuvers. Its commander tested a dive that included forward movement. Exactly what went wrong is uncertain, but apparently there was leakage around the battery compartment, perhaps caused by corrosion resulting from the batteries. Crewmen noticed the smell of chlorine gas, leading the commander to attempt to reverse course and raise the ship. Unfortunately, he was not successful, as further leakage brought the ship down. It became completely flooded, with the entire crew perishing. Search crews were sent out immediately when the submarine failed to return, in hopes of finding the ship and dragging it quickly to shallow waters. This was unsuccessful, and the rescue mission became one of salvage a few days later. This archive includes various documents pertaining especially to recovery of the bodies of the crew. $5,750.

Rare Book Monthly

  • Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Pietro Aquila, Psyche and Proserpina,1690. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli: Jacques Gamelin, Memento homo quia pulvis es et in pulverem reverteris, 1779. Starting price 300€
    Gonnelli: Giorgio Ghisi, The final Judgement, 1680. Starting price 480€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli Goya y Lucientes Francisco, Los Proverbios.1877. Starting price 1000 €
    Gonnelli: Domenico Peruzzini, Long bearded old man, 1660. Starting price 2200€
    Gonnelli: Enea Vico, Leda and the Swan,1542. Starting price 140€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Andrea Del Sarto [school of], San Giovanni Battista, 1570. Starting price 25000€
    Gonnelli: Carlo Maratta, Virgin Mary and Jesus, 1660. Starting Price 1200€
    Gonnelli: Louis Brion de La Tour, Sphére de Copernic Sphere de Ptolemée / Le Systême de Ptolemée. Le Systême de Ticho-Brahe…, 1766. Starting price 180€
    Gonnelli
    Auction 59
    Antique prints, paintings and maps
    May 20th 2025
    Gonnelli: Marc’Antonio Dal Re, Ville di Delizia o Siano Palaggi Camparecci nello Stato di Milano Divise in Sei Tomi Con espressevi le Piante…, Tomo Primo, 1726. Starting price 7000€
    Gonnelli: Katsushika Hokusai, Bird on a branch, 1843. Starting price 100€
  • Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    May 14
    Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration
    Dominic Winter, May 14: (Choiseul-Gouffier, Marie). Voyage Pittoresque de la Grece, 2 vols, 1st edition, 1782-1822. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Gentlemen's Magazine and Historical Chronicle, by Sylvanus Urban, 11 volumes. £700-1,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Shackleton (Ernest). The Heart of the Antarctic, 2 vols, 1st ed, presentation copy, 1909. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    May 14
    Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Drayton (Michael). Poly Olbion..., London: 1622. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Scheuchzer (Johann Jacob). Ouresiphoites Helveticus, 4 parts in 1, 2nd ed, 1723. £3,000-4,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Roberts (Henry, after). Chart of the NW Coast of America and NE Coast of Asia ..., [1784]. £500-800
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    May 14
    Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration
    Dominic Winter, May 14: World. Maffei (Giovanni), Indiarum orientalium Occidentaliumque Descriptio..., 1589. £1,200-1,500
    Dominic Winter, May 14: World. Ortelius (Abraham), Typus Orbis Terrarum, [1598]. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Bible [English]. [The Holy Bible, Conteyning the Old Testament, and the New..., 1613]. £2,000-3,000
    Dominic Winter Auctioneers
    May 14
    Printed Books & Maps, Travel, Atlases & Exploration
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Taylor (John). All the Workes of John Taylor the Water-Poet..., 1630. £1,000-1,500
    Dominic Winter, May 14: Pierpont Morgan Collection. Catalogue of the Morgan Collection of Chinese Porcelains, 1904 & 1906. £2,000-3,000
  • Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: The Shem Tov Bible, 1312 | A Masterpiece from the Golden Age of Spain. Sold: 6,960,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Ten Commandments Tablet, 300-800 CE | One of humanity's earliest and most enduring moral codes. Sold: 5,040,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: William Blake | Songs of Innocence and of Experience. Sold: 4,320,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: The Declaration of Independence | The Holt printing, the only copy in private hands. Sold: 3,360,000 USD
    Sotheby's
    Sell Your Fine Books & Manuscripts
    Sotheby’s: Thomas Taylor | The original cover art for Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone. Sold: 1,920,000 USD
    Sotheby’s: Machiavelli | Il Principe, a previously unrecorded copy of the book where modern political thought began. Sold: 576,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Leonardo da Vinci | Trattato della pittura, ca. 1639, a very fine pre-publication manuscript. Sold: 381,000 GBP
    Sotheby’s: Henri Matisse | Jazz, Paris 1947, the complete portfolio. Sold: 312,000 EUR

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